Editing National identification number (section)

=== Germany ===
In [[Germany]], there is no national identification number in the full meaning of the term. Until 2007 only decentralized databases were kept by social insurance companies, who allocate a social insurance number to almost every person.

Every citizen (and every permanent resident) is assigned a personal ({{langx|de|Steuerliche Identifikationsnummer}} or ''Steuer-IdNr''), usually at birth. The Steuer-IdNr was introduced in 2008 to replace the former Tax File Number (''[[:de:Steuernummer]]''), which did not uniquely identify a single person. The corresponding number for organizations, also issued by the tax administration, is named economy identification number (''Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer''). These numbering concepts are national systems, organized by the [[Federal Central Tax Office]]. For special purpose further value-added tax identification numbers are issued for persons and organizations that are subject to paying VAT as a deduct from their revenues. This is a Europe-wide unified concept. Additionally for all persons joining the military service, a Service Number is issued.

The [[German Commercial Register]] holds records about companies.

None of these numbers are commonly used for other than their specific purpose, nor is such (ab)use legal. [[German identity card|German identity documents]] do not contain any of the mentioned numbers, only a document number. People are not expected to know their number when dealing with an authority.

For some time, the [[West Germany|West German]] government intended to create a 12-digit personal identification number (''Personenkennzeichen, PKZ'') for all citizens, registered alien residents on its territory, and all non-resident Nazi victims entitled to compensation payments. The system, which was to be implemented by the 1973 federal law on civil registry, was rejected in 1976, when the [[Bundestag]] found the concept of an identification system for the entire population to be incompatible with the existing legal framework.<ref>Verdict of the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), 15 December., 1983, BVerfGE 65, 1.</ref>
In [[German Democratic Republic|East Germany]], a similar system named ''Personenkennzahl'' (PKZ) was set up in 1970 and remained in use until the state ceased to exist in 1990.

;When applying for the Visa Waiver Program:
As Germany is part of the [[Visa Waiver Program]] German citizens can enter the US for up to 90 days without the need of a visa. In order to participate in this program, filling out an online form called [[Electronic System for Travel Authorization|ESTA]] is required. This form specifically asks German citizens about a national identification number. Since German citizens do not always have a national identification number, Germans are not expected to fill in a number here, but they can fill in UNKNOWN instead.<ref>Nationale Identitätsnummer fehlt auf ESTA-Bestätigung [https://visumantrag.de/usa/nachrichten/nationale-identitaetsnummer-esta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028165344/https://visumantrag.de/usa/nachrichten/nationale-identitaetsnummer-esta|date=2020-10-28}}, retrieved 28 August 2020</ref>